David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My parents came here in the 1960s to work in the Public Service and play their part in the national story, just like thousands of other Australians who came here and the generations that followed them. They worked in areas of tax, industry, science and the bureau of stats. They played their part in the national story. Like my parents, I worked in the Public Service in the 1990s, for the Department of Industrial Relations, which became the Department of Workplace Relations. I remember the cuts of the Howard government; 30,000 jobs were lost in three years. In my agency, it was one in three. The generational damage that occurred to policy development and program delivery was extraordinary. It took us years to recover. Of course, beyond that, the damage it did to the local economy was extraordinary as well. After that, I worked in the labour movement representing Federal Police officers and science and engineering professionals—many in the Public Service. It gave me an insight into the many other forms that public service takes on. I represent members in Services Australia, the DSS and the Department of Health and Aged Care, and they're under threat again. They come to work every day working for the Australian people. They deserve to be honoured, not have their jobs cut.